Harry F Tweedale

Tweedale's War: Aircraftman Harry Tweedale Relates His Experiences in the South-east Asian Theatre of World War II Harry F Tweedale

Publisher Marketing: Harry Tweedale's war years would see their share of drama, excitement, horror and loss. Conscripted into the RAF in 1940, Harry trained as a signalman and was posted to the Far East theatre of war. Here he would witness the withdrawal from Malaya, the loss of Singapore and the chaos that ensued. His perspective of these historic events would be experienced from amongst the lowest ranks. Harry had attended a prestigious grammar school but the depression years had meant leaving education early, without final academic qualifications, in order to take up paid employment. This would mean he would enter the RAF at the lowest level - AC2, Aircraftman (Second Class). Harry and so many of his colleagues would feel dropped into an alien world, into a campaign disastrously equipped, haphazardly led and with no apparent strategy. After the frenzied allied withdrawal from the Malaysian peninsula Harry would eventually arrive in India. Here he would carry out his wartime signalman duties with care and diligence for a further three years. In spite of feeling stranded far from home and from the front line of action, his easy going nature would ensure that he made the most of this unexpected opportunity to travel and experience other cultures. However his self-confessed and honest prime motivation would be to survive and to return safely to his parents and to the woman he loved. Contributor Bio:  Marshall, Jane Edith Rebecca Millman, was born Edith Rebecca Stevens in 1866. In 1893 she married a Baptist missionary Walter Stapleton. Walter was a Baptist missionary in the Congo, known to the Congolese as 'Mangwete'. Edith travelled to Congo with him in 1893 where she became known as Mama Mangwete. Missionaries at that time rarely lived long and Walter died in 1906. In 1908 Edith became remarried to another Congo missionary colleague, William 'Mokili' Millman and became known as Mama Mokili. Their daughter, Litwasi, was born in 1909. Edith was to spend forty four years as a Congo missionary and throughout these years she would write copious letters home for her friends and Baptist supporters and for her two daughters whom she heartrendingly had to leave with foster parents in England. These letters and notes were chronologically assembled by her husband, William 'Mokili' Millman. Jane Marshall is the daughter of Litwasi, the daughter born at Yakusu to Mokili and Mama Millman. Surrounded by the love of Africa from a child, Jane gained an Honours Degree in History with Special Reference to Africa from London University (QMC/SOAS) in 1967. This study instilled in her the need for Africa to retain, recapture and nurture its history - and that all first hand eye-witness documents were of special importance. Hence, when Jane discovered the fragmented typescript of her grandmother's experiences, she reassembled the fading typescript, laboriously typed it into an ancient 1970s computer, added appropriate original photos, and, over the years, transferred it to floppy disc, to CD, to print and recently to Kindle. 'Mama Edith: Letters from Congo' by Edith Millman and Jane Marshall was originally published by AuthorHouse in 2009 as 'Mama: Edith Rebecca Millman Tells in Her Own Words of Her Remarkable 1893 Journey into Congo's 'Heart of Darkness' - and How, as 'Mama', she Gives the rest of her life to the Attempt to Spread Christian Light.' Jane has now reformatted and republished her original 2009 version as 'Mama Edith: Letters from Congo' (published by Createspace). It is now Volume 1 of the 'Mission and Tradition in the Congo' Series which she has edited, formatted and published (All available in Kindle and paperback format).